


Cataclysm

by myasmatheory



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Zombies, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2011-10-10
Updated: 2011-10-09
Packaged: 2017-10-24 11:16:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/262851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myasmatheory/pseuds/myasmatheory
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When zombies attack Washington D.C. after a disastrous nuclear fallout, John Egbert struggles to keep his friends alive and reach the radiation- and zombie-free Safe Haven in Oregon. But with the infected and the healthy alike fighting amongst themselves for precious resources, will they manage to survive?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cataclysm

  
**Survivor John: Be the leader.**

 

You can do that. You're the leader of your ragtag group of preteen survivors, much to your chagrin, and you're doing your best. Unfortunately your leadership has lead to Jade and Karkat getting bitten by zombies at a dingy strip club, and your entire group running out of bullets and food when you're so close to the Safe Haven.

 

The disturbing lack of food forces you to make a pitstop among a scattered collection of other cars, where you trade away your last spare muffler for enough food to get there, and let the others relax and recover a little bit. A man there peddles bullets and you buy some immediately, splitting them up among your weapons, and you also purchase a few spare medical kits to patch up your injured friends.

 

While you were busy tending to Jade and Karkat, who mostly just assure you they're fine even as they look less and less sure of what they're saying, Rose inexplicably vanished into thin air. When you look for her to check on her condition, make sure her previously broken arm has healed, you can't find her anywhere. You check with Dave, who's watching the car, and he hasn't seen her either.

 

So you assign Dave the task of watching the other two members of your group, leaving him with the shotgun and the grim thought that you're sure he'll do what's best, and you run out to find Rose.

 

Rose is nowhere to be found after two hours of searching, during which you questioned everyone in the area about if they'd seen a tall girl with short hair and a headband, and you can only think the worst of what might have happened.

 

As you go to return to your group with the news that Rose might just not be coming back, you stumble over a strange object nestled in the dirt. Even with your ears ringing and your brain demanding to know what you're going to do about Rose's disappearance, you're able to realize that whatever you almost tripped on might be something you need. It might be a muffler or something to eat, or maybe some bullets to fight off zombies. You make a grab for it to examine your newfound prize and discover that it's none of those things.

 

It's Rose's headband.

 

And it's covered in blood.

 

At this point, you have two choices to make. You can go back and tell the group that Rose is probably (no, definitely, you just don't want to think about that) gone for good, or you can lie.

 

Jade would cry if she knew Rose was gone, and even thinking about it puts a lump in your throat. You don't want to face up to the knowledge that you've failed one of your best friends, that she's either been killed by zombies or by hungry foragers just desperate for something to eat, like so many of the people who have made it this far.

 

You sit there and think about it, turning Rose's headband over in your hands, and then you think about Rose. Rose had believed in you and your leadership, and she had gotten killed because you hadn't thought to provide her with a gun of her own at a rest stop so close to the Safe Haven in Oregon. The people here had seemed so friendly, and the zombies weren't anywhere nearby, so you had assumed that Rose would just maybe take a little walk but be safe without any sort of weapon. Karkat wasn't about to go wandering off and neither was Jade, and Dave always waited with the car. Usually Rose would stay with Dave or go off on her own, and you curse yourself for not thinking of that sooner. 

 

You curse yourself for trusting that things would be okay because you were so, so close, you had almost gotten there, and you curse yourself for getting Rose killed. You curse yourself for being such a terrible leader, for existing, and for letting Rose die and Karkat and Jade get infected, and for not realizing what a loser you were until it got someone killed. Every mistake you ever made on this desperate journey for survival, from wasting bullets on non-threatening zombies to sending Karkat and Jade out to gather food in a dimly-lit building, comes rushing back, and then you bury your face in your knees and cry.

 

This had only started two weeks ago. Two weeks ago, you had just turned thirteen, and you had invited all of your friends to a slumber party. Dave, Jade, Rose, Karkat, and Vriska.

 

Vriska.

 

Just thinking about Vriska makes you feel like an even bigger loser than you already were, because you had left Washington D.C. without her. She and your dad had gotten separated from you in the panic, and you had made Dave wait as long as he could before they literally forced you out of the city and blocked it off with the excuse that it was under quarantine. You knew your dad would be okay, and he would do his best to take care of Vriska, but you had waited for them at the gate and they'd never come back.

 

Two weeks ago, you were a normal kid, celebrating his birthday with all of his best friends and his dad. Now two of your best friends are missing, probably dead, and two more are struggling to stay alive. You just want for this all to have been some sort of terrible dream, where you can wake up and have a great birthday, with Dave's ironically terrible gifts and your dad's cake and all of your friends there, alive.

 

You were a kid with no concerns, and now you're a kid responsible for what's left of your best friends in the whole wide world. You didn't choose this, but you're going to do this anyway. You're not going to fail Dave, you're not going to let Jade or Karkat die, and you're going to make sure the two of them get the rumored cure in the Safe Haven.

 

With that, you make your choice, and you dig a small hole to bury Rose's headband. Then you stand and walk away, explaining away Rose's absence to the fact that she went with another group, and would meet everyone there. Jade buys it, Karkat buys it, but Dave just looks away. You don't know if he knows but you can't afford to draw attention to it, so you just get in the car and tell him to keep driving.

 

 **==== > Be the cool kid driver. **


End file.
